Rising concerns over agricultural production as COVID-19 spreads: Lessons from China

Abstract

There are rising concerns over the impact of COVID-19 on the agricultural production, which may become a nonnegligible threat to the long-term food supply and food security. This paper discusses the impact of COVID-19 on agricultural production in China, followed by government responses to alleviate the negative effects. The results show that unreasonable restrictions would block the outflow channels of agricultural products, hinder necessary production inputs, destroy production cycles, and finally undermine production capacity. It is expected that China's experiences could give warnings and suggestions to other countries that are experiencing serious outbreak to protect domestic agricultural production, especially developing countries.

Highlights

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  The impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic on food supply chain started immediately from the “midstream” or “downstream” part, then will extend upward to the “upstream” production part.

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  China's experiences have shown that some countermeasures against COVID-19 disrupted production.

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  Unreasonable restrictions would block the outflow channels of agricultural products, hinder necessary production inputs, destroy production cycles, and finally undermine production capacity.